1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ribbon cassette, and a printing apparatus and a facsimile apparatus each using the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Hitherto, it is known that in a printing apparatus used for a facsimile apparatus or the like, a ribbon cassette in which an ink ribbon is housed in a cassette case is used in order to make replacement of the ink ribbon for printing easy (refer to, for example, JP-A-7-283919).
The ribbon cassette has a cylindrical ribbon supplying part for supplying an ink ribbon, a cylindrical ribbon take-up part for taking up the ink ribbon, and a connecting arm for connecting both of the parts. Printing is performed by a print head in a position while the ink ribbon is moved from the ribbon supplying part to the ribbon take-up part.
As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, a casing 100A of such a ribbon cassette 100 is constructed by: main body parts 101A, 102A in which a ribbon supplying part 101 and a ribbon take-up part 102 are connected to connecting arms 103, 103; and lid members 101B, 102B which are connected to the main body parts 101A, 102A openably and closably. In the ribbon supplying part 101, a supply roll 117 around which an ink ribbon 116 is wound is housed. In the ribbon take-up part 102, a take-up roll 118 for taking up the ink ribbon 116 supplied from the supply roll 117 is housed.
Further, in order to prevent the lid members 101B, 102B from being opened arbitrarily at the time of operation, the lid members 101B, 102B are provided with engaged parts 104, 104, 104, 104 and the main body parts 101A, 102A are provided with engagement parts 105, 105, 105, 105 which are detachably engaged with the engaged parts 104.
As shown in FIG. 11, the ink ribbon 116 is arranged so as to pass the inner sides of the engagement parts 105. The length h1 in the axial direction of the ribbon cassette 100 is longer than the width h2 of the ink ribbon 116.
The ribbon cassette 100 is loaded into a facsimile apparatus as follows. First, as shown in FIG. 13A, a lid member 111 is opened, two levers 113 on a main body casing 112 side are lifted to stand a print head 114. Then, as shown in FIG. 13B, the ink ribbon is tightened by rotating a ribbon roll (not shown) or the like so that the ink ribbon is in a tensed state. As shown in FIG. 13C, the ribbon cassette 100 is held and inserted by using an arrow 115 as a guide, and as shown in FIG. 13D, the ribbon cassette 100 is loaded into a predetermined position in the main body casing 112. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 13E, a procedure for laying the print head 114 and closing the lid member 111 is performed.
According to the above-mentioned structure, however, since the engaged parts 104 and the engagement parts 105 are provided along the axial direction, the length h1 in the axial direction of the ribbon cassette 101 is long. This structure does not serve to reduce the size which has been demanded in recent years.
In such a ribbon cassette, as mentioned above, the ribbon supplying part 101 and the ribbon take-up part 102 are connected by the elongated connecting arms 103 and have a shape which tends to be twisted and deformed. When the ribbon cassette 100 is loaded into the main body casing 112, there is, consequently, the possibility that a torsion force acts on the ribbon cassette 100. Depending on the way the ribbon cassette 100 is held, the ribbon cassette 100 is twisted and deformed, the engagement between the engaged parts 104 and the engagement parts 105 is not possible, the lid member 111 is opened, and the ink ribbon 116 is exposed. It is, therefore, necessary to reliably prevent such opening of the lid member 111.